


I know why the caged bird sings

by watergator



Category: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TV 2012)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Fluff, Gen, Homelessness, Noodles, TMNT
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-02
Updated: 2016-09-02
Packaged: 2018-08-12 14:23:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,044
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7937998
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/watergator/pseuds/watergator
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Human AU including lil Mikey and Leo and Papa Splinter </p><p>and noodles ;)</p>
            </blockquote>





	I know why the caged bird sings

**Author's Note:**

> this is actually a lil gift for my amigo katie- so if y'all wanna check out her own work (which is so amazing btw) heres the link !!
> 
> https://m.fanfiction.net/u/7483761/
> 
> enjoy !! ly ;)

The sun was beating down, a particularly hot day for October, he remembered how this time last year the air was crisp and the idea of winter was not so far away – but it seemed like Summer was still dragging on, holding onto the last thread.

So when Hamato Yoshi passed his familiar favourite noodle shop one afternoon, he wasn't surprised to see two young boys, playing outside in nothing but tank tops and a pair of shorts. Their clothes were dirtied, the flip flops on their feet were breaking apart, struggling to hold together - hair was messed and there was evident of mud and what looked like small amounts of dried blood on their hands and faces.

Yoshi looked around for a second, awaiting a parent or an adult to usher them away - cleaning them up and taking them home. But as Yoshi stood in the small ally way, no one but the wind was present, blowing through the tight curls of what Yoshi guessed was the youngest one of the two.

The younger one suddenly caught sight of Yoshi, wild blue eyes blinking up, as he sat on his knees, his imaginary game momentarily forgotten and he watched the stranger.

Yoshi smiled warmly, and for a second he debated whether he should keep moving, stop staring and let them carry on.

But there was something about the way this small child blinked up with big eyelashes, his freckled cheeks puffed out and he carried on looking - as if he was figuring him out.

The other boy must have caught on, because soon, his game had stopped and he looked up to follow his gaze, and he was looking up with blue eyes — different but so similar to the smaller boy.

Yoshi smiled again, and as the two boys looked over at him, the man decided to finally say something,

"Are you alone out here"

Neither of them spoke, and Yoshi wondered if the even knew how to speak English — or if they even spoke at all.

"Do you have a mama and papa"  
He questioned, and as the three of them sat in silence of the empty ally way, big round eyes looking confused, and Yoshi recognised the look from his own two sons at home.

He sighed, as the two boys quickly returned back to their game, making small noises and making gestures with their hands, ignoring the man that suddenly seemed interested in them.

Yoshi almost walked away, until the older looking boy sat up suddenly like a jolt of electricity had struck him, and as his nose twitched, deep blue eyes sparkling slightly, the younger one whined,

"Food"

His voice was small and sad, it still hung onto the babyish tone and Yoshi continued to watch,

"It's just the trash Mike — we'll check it out inna second" 

Yoshi figured three things out; the little one was had a name, the second one was that they could talk English, and the third and most heartbreaking one was that they had planned to eat out of the trash cans.

He would have just walked away, but there was a tug at his heart and a small nagging at the back of his head that made him want to stay.  
Then he had an idea,

"Are you boys hungry?" He smiled again, and the two boys looked up again, puzzled,

"Why?" The little one, Mikey, asked, his bottom lip pouting slightly,

"I could buy you lunch" he offered and he watched the older boy think about it,

"Why d'you wanna buy us lunch?" He raised an eyebrow, testing the waters, and Yoshi chuckled humbly,

"Because eating fresh noodles is far better than ones from the trash"

Soon the two boys were slurping up their bowls of noodles, and the older one, that had reluctantly introduced himself as Leonardo and his brother was in fact called Michelangelo - had to mumble to his brother over and over again about manners and the blonde would sink back into his stool, not long before forgetting them again and tucking back into his lunch.

Yoshi watched them, a familiar warmth in his heart swelled - the same when warmth when he would watch his twin sons back at home - the love of a parent to a child.

He thanked Murikami, an old friend for the food, payed his money, and stopped.

The two boys had cleaned their mess (most of it was Mikeys) and was looking up at Yoshi with big round eyes, unknowing and unsure.

He couldn't just leave them here.

"Thanks mister" Leo managed to say, and Yoshi could see the torn look in his eyes - this child obviously had a lot of issues, containing trust, and the way his hand was gripped hard onto his brothers, he guessed it was because they only had each other in the world, and Yoshi knew how that felt — to have little but have a lot to love.

"Have you got a place to go? Somewhere warm?" He asked, kneeling down on one knee, looking back and forth at the two boys.

Leo reluctantly shook his head, black bangs flipping into his eyes, and he blinked through thick eyelashes down at the floor, almost ashamed, letting his flip flop scuff against the floor.

"Can we stay wit' you?" Mikey asked after a few beats of silence, and Leo looked up, horrified with his brother for being so rude, and he was about to open his mouth to remind his baby brother for the millionth time this afternoon about manners, when Yoshi laughed warmly,

"Of course you can"

And he watched their faces light up with a warm smile that cracked in two, and he watched Leo's eyes glistening with maybe too much of a reflection, too many happy tears for a child of his age and it made Yoshi's heart ache. He hoisted Mikey up onto one hip and the child buried his head into the lapel of his jacket, and Leo's hand slowly slipped into his, tiny fingers gripping onto his, Yoshi smiled, thinking about how his sons back home would react, where he should go to make it legal — and how his tiny family had just got a little bit more bigger and a lot more beautiful.


End file.
